Tawnos

Tawnos was a Jorilinian toymaker who came to the city of Kroog to be an apprentice for the great artificer Urza. He was also a close friend of Urza’s wife Kayla and helped raise the couple’s son Harbin. Tawnos would play a significant role in the Brothers’ War as Urza’s second in command.

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Just before the beginning of the war Tawnos was promoted to the rank of master artificer by Urza. Together they created machines which made the warlord of Yotia, Urza’s father-in-law, very happy. However the happy times were not to last, tensions between Yotia and Fallaji began to become tense and the peace negotiations between the nations erupted into bloodshed. The warlord was dead and Urza soon returned to deliver the news to Kayla.

Urza and Kayla became the rulers of Yotia but their marriage was being strained due to Urza’s lack of attention for Kayla. Tawnos rebuffed her romantic advances and helped to save the marriage and the nation of Yotia from being split in two.

The Fallaji arrived in Kroog under the guise of peace. Mishra was in attendance, as was his apprentice Ashnod. However, the Qadir was nowhere to be seen. Peace talks went smoothly, with Mishra even willing to stop the Fallaji’s open revolt against the bordering nations. But the price was high. In order for the Fallaji to stop their violence, Urza must surrender his Mighstone to his brother. Urza was adamant. After all this time, Mishra still only wanted what was Urza’s. After a night of lighthearted festival, Urza and Kayla retired to their quarters. Urza’s world would change when he had awakened.

Tawnos woke Urza, inquiring as to Kayla’s whereabouts. With a questioned look, Urza found that his Mighstone was missing. Kayla had stolen it. Urza raced to Mishra’s lodging, where he found his wife half-disrobed, offering the Mighstone over to Urza’s hated brother. Urza snatched the Mightstone from his wife’s hands and used its power against Mishra. Tawnos had managed to capture Ashnod, but Mishra and the rest of the Fallaji had fled overnight.

Enraged at his brother and his wife, Urza left Yotia with a squadron of ornithopters and entered the Fallaji desert. For weeks he searched the deserts for any sign of his brother. Finally, that sign arrived. Urza and his squadron attacked a War Machine under Mishra’s control, but barely managed to escape alive. Indeed, only Urza and one other soldier survived. Together, they began their long trek back to Kroog.

Urza found Kroog in a state of chaos. Mishra had lured his brother away from Yotia, and then had struck like a thief in the night. Upon questioning a few survivors, Urza found that Tawnos had managed to liberate most of Urza’s artifact plans via ornithopter. Urza realized his folly. He had allowed Mishra to cloud his judgment with Urza’s own emotions. Urza had always been a thinker, a creator. This war, for war it surely was, had just gotten a thousand times more dangerous. Urza began to think.

Tawnos and Kayla arrived at Urza’s Tower with young Harbin in tow. Kayla vowed that Harbin was Urza’s son, but Urza feared the truth. The child could just as well belong to Kayla and Mishra. Urza reluctantly welcomed the three into his home, and, reunited with his longtime apprentice, began to construct even more wondrous defenses.

Within the year, Mishra’s forces attacked the borders of Argive, but were easily repelled by these new creations. Now, at last, Urza could go on the offensive. Urza began his own raids into the Fallaji territories. Both sides of the conflict had vast resources at their disposal, but both were using these resources at an alarming rate. The only way to win the war was to construct a better artifact engine, but both sides were being led by geniuses. Mishra had solidified his hold on the Fallaji with the death of the Qadir, and Urza had become a leader in his own right over the nation of Argive (which now included Yotia and Korlis).

Upon one raid into the desert, Tawnos was captured by Mishra’s chief lieutenant Ashnod, who tortured him for information. She also gave Tawnos a way to escape which he did successfully but Ashnod's treachery was discovered and she was exiled.

Harbin, now a commanding officer in the ornithopter forces, had made a wondrous discovery. Away from the main continent of Terisiare lay another smaller continent of immense natural resources. Lumber and ore lay piled upon each other over centuries in the forested island. This place, Argoth, would be Urza’s key to victory over his hated brother. However, Urza was reluctant to drag another country into this war. Already, both the Fallaji and Argivian lands were reduced to waste, and no clear victory was in sight. Still, Urza knew his brother must be stopped if this war would ever end. With Harbin’s instructions, Urza made his journey to Argoth. Yet, on that day Urza began another journey entirely. A journey into legend.

On Argoth the two armies began a campaign for control of the continent. It was here that Tawnos ran into Ashnod who presented him with a powerful artifact known as the Golgothian Sylex. During this exchange the two armies went berserk and began attacking themselves. It was then that Ashnod and Tawnos saw the demon Gix approaching them, and to give Tawnos a chance to escape Ashnod sacrificed herself by challenging the demon.

Tawnos made it to Urza, gave him the Sylex and reported the demon to Urza. Understanding that the Sylex had the power to end the decades long war Urza knew what he had to do. He sent his son Harbin off the island via boat and sealed Tawnos within his coffin before activating the Sylex and triggering the Sylex Blast.